Elder Vernon gets to train a new missionary!

This is Cory's new companion that is a "Greenie"  He is from Brazil.  

February 2, 2015

This week started off with a long bus ride to Santa Maria to meet my new companion. My new companion is  from Feira de Santana in the Bahia (close to Salvador Brazil). He is the only member in his family is 22 years old and was a PE teacher before the mission.

When we were there and staying at the hotel I was praying and felt the spirit tell me that I need to be my new companion's companion, that was cool to feel.

Also I saw McDonalds, the only one in our mission, but decided not to buy anything because it was 20+ reais (around $7.00)for a big mac. On p-day we play basketball now which is fun.

When we returned from Santa Maria it was another 7 hours on the bus but we arrived Wednesday night and went to a Book of Mormon study group that we started.

Deise would have been baptized by Alberto but it did not work out because the baptismal font broke; she will have her baptism this week and is super excited! :)

I am running out of time at the lanhouse, so I do not have time to write more! :) I would like too, but we have to be obedient.

February 9, 2015  :)

During the week one interesting thing was that we said a prayer with a group of pastors in an evangelical church and then traded pass along cards. Also during one lesson the investigator just wanted to argue with questions about tiny details that are answered by simply reading the scripture that talks his little questions, so we bore testimony that the only way to know if the Book of Mormon is true and if the restoration of the gospel is true is to pray, read the Book of Mormon, think about it, and then try it out (go to church and live the commandments). It was cool because the spirit was there and the investigator accepted what we said.

Thursday was Deise´s baptism! She was sad that it wasn´t last Saturday but because the baptismal font was broken it had to be on Thursday. The best part was that Alberto was able to baptize her and when he did the ordinance he did it perfectly the first try. I felt the spirit when Deise entered the water. Their whole family is super happy with going to church and doing what needs to be done. We had lunch with them Sunday after church and Deise´s confirmation to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, so I shared the family tradition of everyone sharing something that they learned at church as we ate.

This week on Friday we had mission tour with Elder Mazzagardi (he is in the Brazilian area presidency of the seventy). It was cool because he talked about how we are doing really well with lots of things but we simply need to invite people to be baptized more often and also more directly.

February 16, 2015

This week lots of good stuff happened. Good stuff like eat pancakes and invite people to follow the savior´s example by being baptized, and we had a good meeting with Bishop. :) :) :)

One cool thing that happened was that during one of our companionship studies Presidente Parrela called us and said that we would have a companionship study together with him. We read Doctrine and Covenants 31 over the phone and talked about how our call as a missionary is super important and that the Lord makes sure that everything will work out even though we need to do our absolute best. After wards we studied Jacob 5 in the book of Mormon. It is amazing how the scriptures always have more hidden treasures in them that we can find in uncountable ways.

I had an exchange with my district leader Elder Matoso on a day that rained a lot. Stuff fell through, but at the end of the day there was an amazing family home evening that we had. The message we left was the cross paper that Elder Sol taught me and during the family home evening I made American pancakes. In Brazil everyone eats salty pancakes, but at home we eat them with maple syrup and stuff. After we left the family home evening one of our investigators forgave one of the members about something that had happened years ago and then they hugged each other. It is cool to see how the gospel of Jesus Christ changes people to be better, more forgiving, and more loving. :) :) :) :)

Feburary 23, 2015

This week was great like every other week, but a few of the great stuff that happened are the following:

We had weekly planning and our Zone Leaders showed up to see how we plan. It was good because as we followed what preach my gospel says they also gave us ideas about how we can do even better by creating extra goals that use numbers.

Irmão Cézar had the addiction of drinking coffee, but when we invited the spirit to teach the word of wisdom he liked it. He said how coffee is the least bad of the things we do not consume for our health but liked how the word of wisdom helps us to be healthy and receptive to the spirit. Also we gave him some cevada (barley) to start drinking instead of coffee and he was excited to try it out. It reminded me of how at the start of the mission teaching Aúreo and Sam that the Lord prepares the way so that we can live his commandments.

There was also a family that returned to church this Sunday. We started talking with them because another member was on the street talking with them and then we started talking about the church and now everyone is a little bit happier!

Com muitos sorrisos! :) :) :)  Elder Cory Vernon

January 26, 2015 Cory is going to be a trainer!

Ollo family! :)

This week was cool because even though I sweated abunch we worked with lots of members and Alberto blessed the sacrament in sacrament meeting. Also Alberto´s Sister Deise is preparing for her baptism and when all goes well o Alberto will be able to baptize her!

We had a family home evening that nearly did not happen.It was scheduled and everything, but everything was happening so that it would not happen.But even though it rained and the family home evening was in a different house than planned it turned out being really cool. We watched a short Mormon message about how in our relationships we need to let people know that we love them. Jesus Christ never stops loving us.

One thing liked during my studies this week  read Mormon 9:11-14 which I liked because it gives a good summary of lots of the plan of salvation and how the Atonement frees us if we will only accept what Christ has done for us.

When Elder Farias bid farewell to Bishop Claudio it was cool because Bishop talked about how with the social media today that we will always be able to have contact with the people that we meet and help during the mission and that the gospel blesses families and that when a missionary serves a mission pretty soon (20 years or so) that same missionary will be sending children into the mission field to help even more people find out how to have the most happiness in life that is possible.

Also there was transfers and I will be staying in Uruguaiana in Ala Porto and will be training a new missionary, Elder Farias will be going to Ijuí.I am taking a bus to Santa Maria today to pick up my new companion and think that I will only return tomorrow or Wednesday afternoon.

Com muitos sorrisos! :) :) :) :) :)

Atentamente,

Élder Vernon :)

I asked Cory some specific questions and I thought you would like to hear some of this kind of things too. 

When I go shopping I normally buy a loaf of bread and some fruit to eat.which lasts for about 2 weeks. Sometimes I buy eggs or stuff to make pancakes. Sometimes I buy Sonhos form a bakery that we walk buy. We walk everywhere, my area in Uruguaiana is really small so we do not walk very much. it normally takes 15 minutes to 30 minutes to get from one place to another. we see smell and hear dogs cats, birds and horses. We live in an apartment with 2 other missionaries (another companionship) and unlike the other areas my room in the apartment has air conditioning! :) We normally eat at the members houses but sometimes I make Ramen, Fetticinni, rice and beans, Polenta, etc, for lunch in our apartment.

Meet the Mormon's Article in Sao Pedro Newspaper

Here is the translation- Cory's Big Brother Aaron served in Brazil so was able to translate for us,  Cory is on the right in the picture, it is hard to tell.

"Meet “the Mormons”

“Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Ghost,” said Jesus Christ to his followers at the end of the book of Matthew chapter 28 in the Holy Bible. As representatives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the nickname of the Church is “the Mormons”) we do with power and authority what Jesus commanded; or rather, we teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and we help people come unto Him through baptism.

We declare that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that He lives and guides His Church through a living Prophet. The first prophet in our days was Joseph Smith. He was called to be Prophet in the year 1820 when he prayed and God, the Eternal Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him. The Prophet today is President Thomas S. Monson.

With joy in our hearts we are called by the Prophet of God to be here in Sao Pedro do Sul and teach about Jesus Christ to the people here. But, we always ask that people ask God if what we say is true; for if you “ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ… with a sincere heart and real intent, having faith in Christ, He will manifest the truth [of all things] by the power of the Holy Ghost” (The Book of Mormon, Moroni 10:4, page 618).

Mormon.org explains more about the Church and how to learn more

Christmas Week

December 29, 2014

Ollo! :)

This week and last week were great. It was cool doing Skype with the family even though it did not work at the start.

Christmas was great; we ate churrasco (lots and lots of meat!), Skyped with the family, and saw puppies and a little lizard.

Also the family wants me to write more about my feelings-- well I am happy. :) Also the spirit guides us every day and I know that because of Jesus Christ it does not matter if some days I am puking my guts :P out, if it’s raining and below 0 degrees Celsius :), or if there is not a cloud in the sky with the sun beating down nearly 50 :) degrees Celsius, if rocks are thrown at us or if we are spat ;) on, etc... it is all a joy :D  to be a part of. Every once in a while the spirit testifies strongly when I bear testimony of how families are for forever or I am led to a place that I otherwise would not go, or there is a scripture that suddenly takes on new meaning; however, the most important feeling of the spirit is the calm assurance of the gift of the holy ghost that is constant and never falters. There is an assurance that I know Heavenly father is happy with me. :) :) :)

One cool thing is that this Sunday it was raining so we were searching out investigators before church in the morning. When it rains generally no one leaves their houses and it is just us walking on the street getting wet and getting blessings. Family after family either did not answer their door when we passed by their house or said that they would not go because of the rain. After we passed by everyone except for the last family that we would pass by it was still raining. Thus we started heading towards this last family who could go to church. As we started walking the bishop pulled up in his car and asked if we were searching for someone to go to church! We knocked on the family´s door and then two of them came to church and loved it! 

Com muitos sorrisos! :) :) :)

Atentamente, Élder Vernon :)

At the bridge where the other side is Argentina.

Family that fed us at Christmas and let us Skype.

Trying to Get Skype to work- it was hard but was totally worth it!

Skyping Elder Vernon

This is Cory's Mom. We had a hard time getting connected to get Skype to work in Brazil but it finally worked and the Vernon family got to talk to Cory.  It was wonderful!  What a great Christmas present!   Cory has a Brazilian accent.  He has been talking Portuguese so long that he had a bit of a hard time talking in English.  It was so wonderful to talk and see him. The people who let him Skype were so kind, it was neat to meet them.  Cory and his companion sang their mission song for us! 

He didn't get to write this week since he got to Skype and they moved Pday to Christmas. 

The pizza they ordered!

It is Summer here!

December 8, 2014
Hello, my companion decided that we should buy pizza this week so we did. It was tasty.

This week was cool in sacrament meeting because a bunch of people bore their testimonies and it was especially awesome because one family is going to go to the temple to be sealed and all of them bore their testimonies of how much the lord has helped them and their family in the past year that they all got baptized.

One lesson that I liked this week was that we decided to read in Nephi about how he and his brothers went and got the brass plates at the start of the Book of Mormon. I love how Nephi explains things so clearly and also shows us how if we trust in our savior everything will work out great and how it needs to be.

We got the conference issue of the ensign so I was finally able to read the priesthood session. Other than President Monson, Elder Quinton L. Cook´s talk seemed great because he talked about how what we decide we want to do is only part of what we need to do. For example to have the goal to serve a mission people need to prepare right now by studying the scriptures and doing little daily things like waking up early and not staying up too late.

It still is not summer yet but now when we leave the apartment I start sweating a bunch again; it just drips off of my nose my ears and everywhere else! :) I am grateful for snow and winter, but also for the sub and sunscreen.

Love ya family! :)

Sincerely,

Elder Cory Austin Vernon